The history of the founding of Fabryka Automatów Tokarskich
The establishment of Fabryka Automatów Tokarskich is connected with the history of two plants. The first of these was the factory of Carl Justus Heckmann, which began operating in Berlin in 1819. In the following years, branch plants of the Heckmann factory were established in Moscow, Hamburg and Havana. The Wrocław branch was opened in 1851 at today's Małachowskiego Street. At that time, devices for the brewing and sugar industry were produced.
The second company with which the history of FAT is connected was the locksmith workshop of Gustaw Trelenberg, which operated in Wrocław until the second half of the 19th century. Trelenberg's plant produced steel structures, railway and tram cars as well as electric industrial locomotives. In 1909, the Eisenwerk plant was the first to build a trailer tram car with a light steel structure.
At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries the economic development of Prussia at that time also had a positive impact on the increase in the production of these plants. Hence the decision to move the companies to the village of Grabiszyn near Wrocław, where there was more space for the construction of modern industrial centers. At the beginning of the 1920s, at Klein Mochberner Strasse (now Klecińska Street), about 700 people worked in the Trelenberg factory, and about 400 people in the Heckmann factory. Over time, the plants stopped production for several years due to the Great Economic Depression (1929 - 1933), and the aggressive imperial policy of the Third Reich and World War II ultimately contributed to the collapse of both companies.
After the end of World War II in 1946, in the halls and rooms that allowed for the resumption of production, Państwowa Fabryka Obrabiarek began its activity. Drills, files, planes and frame saws were produced in the factory facilities of the former Trelenberg and Heckmann plants, which were combined into one plant. In 1953, the company was transformed into Wrocławska Fabryka Urządzeń Mechanicznych. It specialized mainly in the production of lathes, hence, since 1975, the company has been operating to this day as FAT - Fabryka Automatów Tokarskich.
The first universal lathe produced by FAT in 1955-1966.
Type TPC40
- turning length: from 500 to 2000 mm
- max. turning diameter over carriage: 225 mm
- main drive motor power: 7.5 KW
- max. spindle speed: n=1400 rpm.
The FAT brand is associated with a very good, reliable product. By 1992, the company had released 50,000 machines (mostly for export). Years of experience have made FAT lathes around the world perceived as a technologically advanced European product. The most important moment of the last decades was undoubtedly the acquisition of the plant by the HACO group in 1998. Thanks to this, many investments were made and the production of modern lathes at the highest technological level was started.
- The evolution of FAT lathes over the years
Conventional lathes CNC lathes
BELOW A GALLERY OF ARCHIVED PHOTOS FROM THE TIMES OF WROCŁAWSKa FABRYKA URZĄDZEŃ MECHANICZNYCH